In Cook County, residents, businesses, and visitors have worked hard for nine months to follow the pandemic rules and recommendations from your office and the Minnesota Department of Health. That diligence reflects well in our COVID-19 figures: fewer than 100 positive cases, no deaths and very few hospitalizations. We have been your faithful partners in working to control this virus.
But however necessary, your recently imposed four-week prohibition on indoor gatherings, to include bars and restaurants, has us greatly concerned for the owners and workers at those businesses – and ultimately for our entire economy, which is heavily dependent on hospitality and tourism. Unlike the first constriction of our economy in the late spring and early summer, this time there is no federally financed relief available to help cushion the devastating impact this is having.
It is inevitable that there will be further pandemic relief coming from Washington at some point. But as you recognized in statements last week, the need is critical for quick, substantial “gap” assistance from St. Paul to help until the new federal aid arrives – and until, dare we hope, we get an effective vaccine.
Thus we were greatly heartened as we headed into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that a strong bipartisan consensus appeared to form in St. Paul — a consensus to reach quick agreement on a sizable aid package so that assistance could flow to these vulnerable businesses within a very short time. We trust that spirit of common concern and compromise will prevail – for the sake of our businesses, our people and our communities.
Jim Boyd, Chamber of
Commerce Director on
behalf of the Cook County
Chamber of Commerce
Board
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